“And why should I believe you?”

He raised an eyebrow as the phone began to ring.

She said, “I’m not being obnoxious or stubborn. Logically, what reason do I have to trust you? You have to see where I’m coming from.”

“I do.” He heard Matt pick up the phone. “And I respect your caution. It bodes well for your survival. Matt?”

“Baojia, is that you?” The man’s voice was frantic. “Dez is going out of her mind. Is Natalie okay? Please tell me she’s with you. Is she safe?”

At the sound of Matt’s voice, he saw tears well up in Natalie’s eyes and her shoulders relax as the underlying tension left the room. She collapsed in the chair behind his desk, taking a deep breath and covering her face.

“I’m here, Matt.” She swiped at the tears on her cheeks and rested her elbows on the desk, leaning forward and taking a deep breath. “I’m okay. Tell Dez I’m okay.” Then she met his eyes, and Baojia saw a seed of trust take root. “I think I’m gonna be okay.”

“So you do think it’s the same MO as the Juarez case.” Natalie was in full investigative mode on the phone with Dez, and Baojia found the whole experience of watching her while she took notes on the yellow legal pad… oddly stimulating.

Dez was talking through the speaker phone. “As soon as I learned about the existence of vampires, I had to think of Juarez. There was so much that never fit. Sure, some of the cases were solved, but it was such a weird pattern. And to have it go on for so long—”

“But there were a lot of theories, Dez. I’m still not sure that we’re necessarily dealing with a super—I feel like I’m on X-Files—supernatural murderer.” She doodled in the margins of the paper, small circles that grew into larger patterns. “I mean, it’s still possible that what we’re dealing with is human, as sick as it is.”

“It was odd to me that the Mexican authorities never devoted the kind of time and resources to the case that [he "18they ought.”

She lifted her shoulders, gesturing to her friend who wasn’t in the room. “Bribes? Back-door deals? Good ole boy network? A disgusting lack of concern for female victims?”

“Or amnis? Vampire influence? Powerful people not wanting to shed light on secrets?”

“It’s too soon to tell whether the murders in the desert are isolated incidents or something that could be linked to Juarez,” she said. “I don’t want to jump to conclusions that leave out other avenues of investigation.”

“I agree,” Baojia said quietly.

Natalie offered him a small smile and said, “Unfortunately, we may not be able to make any links until more women are murdered.”

“Or more bodies show up.”

She nodded. “It’s possible there are a lot more out there.”

Matt spoke up. “Baojia, have you asked Ernesto about this? Can he make inquiries?”

“If things were normal, these murders would give me the excuse to reach out to my peer in Mexico City the way I couldn’t with the Juarez case. That never affected us or our border; this does. But Rory is in charge right now, so I’m having to go through him.”

“Will he be as persistent as you?”

He hesitated, hating to speak ill of his sister’s mate, but he knew Matt would keep his mouth shut. “Probably not. He’s up to his neck in my job, and I don’t know how well he’s doing, to be honest. If I were still in charge in LA, this would have been dealt with a while ago.”

Natalie must have picked up on the subtext. She said, “So you’re on the outs with your boss… father… whatever. So he put your brother-in-law in charge, and officially you can’t do much, but you’re still the one with connections and the know-how, so your brother-in-law can’t do much either?”

Perceptive little thing. “In a nutshell, yes.”

“Ugh.” Her head fell back in the chair. “This is so much like dirty politics, it’s scary.”

Baojia muttered, “You have no idea.”

There was a curl of hair that kept falling into her face every time she took notes. She’d blow it away with a gust of air, then it would fall back into the exact same position. He wondered why she didn’t tie her hair back, but found he rather liked watching the stubborn lock of hair, even though it annoyed her.

Persistent and annoying. How apt.

She and Dez started going over facts again. He would have to find a way to get her notes for her. She seemed as bright as Dez reported, and Baojia could use any extra help on this case. Plus, if she kept busy with him, Natalie was far less likely to be off putting herself in the middle of dangerous situations she was unequipped to deal with. It would make his assignment to keep her safe far easier if she just stayed close.

She was repeating a list of names from memory when he reached over and tucked the errant curl behind her ear. She shot him a quick smile but then returned to her scribbling.

“Okay, if it is the same perpetrator as in Juarez, that means someone moved.” She turned to Baojia. “Is that something he would… I don’t know, need permission to do? Or would tell anyone?”

He nodded. “Theoretically, if a vampire moves into another’s territory, he should make the other vampire aware. Seek tacit permission, even if they live on the outskirts. The American Southwest is still very new and not as regulated as some other parts of the world. In this area, an im [s akirmortal wouldn’t necessarily have to swear any kind of allegiance, but he’d have to at least acknowledge the authority of whoever controlled the area.”